中英《唐诗三百首》

田寶

060
七言古诗
杜甫
韦讽录事宅观曹将军画马图

国初以来画鞍马， 神妙独数江都王。
将军得名三十载， 人间又见真乘黄。
曾貌先帝照夜白， 龙池十日飞霹雳，
内府殷红玛瑙盘， 婕妤传诏才人索。
盘赐将军拜舞归， 轻纨细绮相追飞；
贵戚权门得笔迹， 始觉屏障生光辉。
昔日太宗拳毛騧， 近时郭家狮子花。
今之新图有二马， 复令识者久叹嗟，
此皆骑战一敌万， 缟素漠漠开风沙。
其余七匹亦殊绝， 迥若寒空杂烟雪；
霜蹄蹴踏长楸间， 马官厮养森成列。
可怜九马争神骏， 顾视清高气深稳。
借问苦心爱者谁？ 后有韦讽前支盾。
忆昔巡幸新丰宫， 翠花拂天来向东；
腾骧磊落三万匹， 皆与此图筋骨同。
自从献宝朝河宗， 无复射蛟江水中。
君不见， 金粟堆前松柏里，
龙媒去尽鸟呼风。
又作遁

田寶

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu
A DRAWING OF A HORSE BY GENERAL CAO
AT SECRETARY WEI FENG'S HOUSE

Throughout this dynasty no one had painted horses
Like the master-spirit, Prince Jiangdu --
And then to General Cao through his thirty years of fame
The world's gaze turned, for royal steeds.
He painted the late Emperor's luminous white horse.
For ten days the thunder flew over Dragon Lake,
And a pink-agate plate was sent him from the palace-
The talk of the court-ladies, the marvel of all eyes.
The General danced, receiving it in his honoured home
After this rare gift, followed rapidly fine silks
From many of the nobles, requesting that his art
Lend a new lustre to their screens.
...First came the curly-maned horse of Emperor Taizong,
Then, for the Guos, a lion-spotted horse....
But now in this painting I see two horses,
A sobering sight for whosoever knew them.
They are war- horses. Either could face ten thousand.
They make the white silk stretch away into a vast desert.
And the seven others with them are almost as noble
Mist and snow are moving across a cold sky,
And hoofs are cleaving snow-drifts under great trees-
With here a group of officers and there a group of servants.
See how these nine horses all vie with one another-
The high clear glance, the deep firm breath.
...Who understands distinction? Who really cares for art?
You, Wei Feng, have followed Cao; Zhidun preceded him.
...I remember when the late Emperor came toward his Summer Palace,
The procession, in green-feathered rows, swept from the eastern sky --
Thirty thousand horses, prancing, galloping,
Fashioned, every one of them, like the horses in this picture....
But now the Imperial Ghost receives secret jade from the River God,
For the Emperor hunts crocodiles no longer by the streams.
Where you see his Great Gold Tomb, you may hear among the pines
A bird grieving in the wind that the Emperor's horses are gone.

田寶

061
七言古诗
杜甫
丹青引赠曹霸将军

将军魏武之子孙， 于今为庶为青门；
英雄割据虽已矣！ 文采风流今尚存。
学书初学卫夫人， 但恨无过王右军。
丹青不知老将至， 富贵于我如浮云。
开元之中常引见， 承恩数上南熏殿，
凌烟功臣少颜色， 将军下笔开生面。
良相头上进贤冠， 猛将腰间大羽箭。
褒公鄂公毛发动， 英姿飒爽犹酣战。
先帝天马玉花骢， 画工如山貌不同。
是日牵来赤墀下， 迥立阊阖生长风。
诏谓将军拂绢素， 意匠惨淡经营中；
斯须九重真龙出， 一洗万古凡马空。
玉花却在御榻上， 榻上庭前屹相向；
至尊含笑催赐金， 圉人太仆皆惆怅，
弟子韩干早入室， 亦能画马穷殊相；
干惟画肉不画骨， 忍使骅骝气凋丧。
将军画善盖有神， 偶逢佳士亦写真；
即今漂泊干戈际， 屡貌寻常行路人。
涂穷反遭俗眼白， 世上未有如公贫；
但看古来盛名下， 终日坎壈缠其身。
又作途
Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu
A SONG OF A PAINTING TO GENERAL CAO

O General, descended from Wei's Emperor Wu,
You are nobler now than when a noble....
Conquerors and their velour perish,
But masters of beauty live forever.
...With your brush-work learned from Lady Wei
And second only to Wang Xizhi's,
Faithful to your art, you know no age,
Letting wealth and fame drift by like clouds.
...In the years of Kaiyuan you were much with the Emperor,
Accompanied him often to the Court of the South Wind.
When the spirit left great statesmen, on walls of the Hall of Fame
The point of your brush preserved their living faces.
You crowned all the premiers with coronets of office;
You fitted all commanders with arrows at their girdles;
You made the founders of this dynasty, with every hair alive,
Seem to be just back from the fierceness of a battle.
...The late Emperor had a horse, known as Jade Flower,
Whom artists had copied in various poses.
They led him one day to the red marble stairs
With his eyes toward the palace in the deepening air.
Then, General, commanded to proceed with your work,
You centred all your being on a piece of silk.
And later, when your dragon-horse, born of the sky,
Had banished earthly horses for ten thousand generations,
There was one Jade Flower standing on the dais
And another by the steps, and they marvelled at each other....
The Emperor rewarded you with smiles and with gifts,
While officers and men of the stud hung about and stared.
...Han Gan, your follower, has likewise grown proficient
At representing horses in all their attitudes;
But picturing the flesh, he fails to draw the bone-
So that even the finest are deprived of their spirit.
You, beyond the mere skill, used your art divinely-
And expressed, not only horses, but the life of a good man....
Yet here you are, wandering in a world of disorder
And sketching from time to time some petty passerby
People note your case with the whites of their eyes.
There's nobody purer, there's nobody poorer.
...Read in the records, from earliest times,
How hard it is to be a great artist.

田寶

062
七言古诗
杜甫
寄韩谏议

今我不乐思岳阳， 身欲奋飞病在床。
美人娟娟隔秋水， 濯足洞庭望八荒。
鸿飞冥冥日月白， 青枫叶赤天雨霜。
玉京群帝集北斗， 或骑麒麟翳凤凰。
芙蓉旌旗烟雾落， 影动倒景摇潇湘。
星宫之君醉琼浆， 羽人稀少不在旁。
似闻昨者赤松子， 恐是汉代韩张良；
昔随刘氏定长安， 帷幄未改神惨伤。
国家成败吾岂敢？ 色难腥腐餐枫香。
周南留滞古所惜， 南极老人应寿昌。
美人胡为隔秋水？ 焉得置之贡玉堂。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu
A LETTER TO CENSOR HAN

I am sad. My thoughts are in Youzhou.
I would hurry there-but I am sick in bed.
...Beauty would be facing me across the autumn waters.
Oh, to wash my feet in Lake Dongting and see at its eight corners
Wildgeese flying high, sun and moon both white,
Green maples changing to red in the frosty sky,
Angels bound for the Capital of Heaven, near the North Star,
Riding, some of them phrenixes, and others unicorns,
With banners of hibiscus and with melodies of mist,
Their shadows dancing upside-down in the southern rivers,
Till the Queen of the Stars, drowsy with her nectar,
Would forget the winged men on either side of her!
...From the Wizard of the Red Pine this word has come for me:
That after his earlier follower he has now a new disciple
Who, formerly at the capital as Emperor Liu's adviser,
In spite of great successes, never could be happy.
...What are a country's rise and fall?
Can flesh-pots be as fragrant as mountain fruit?....
I grieve that he is lost far away in the south.
May the star of long life accord him its blessing!
...O purity, to seize you from beyond the autumn waters
And to place you as an offering in the Court of Imperial Jade.

田寶

063
七言古诗
杜甫
古柏行

孔明庙前有老柏， 柯如青铜根如石；
双皮溜雨四十围， 黛色参天二千尺。
君臣已与时际会， 树木犹为人爱惜。
云来气接巫峡长， 月出寒通雪山白。
忆昨路绕锦亭东， 先主武侯同閟宫。
崔嵬枝干郊原古， 窈窕丹青户牖空。
落落盘踞虽得地， 冥冥孤高多烈风。
扶持自是神明力， 正直元因造化功。
大厦如倾要梁栋， 万牛回首丘山重。
不露文章世已惊， 未辞剪伐谁能送？
苦心岂免容蝼蚁？ 香叶终经宿鸾凤。
志士幽人莫怨嗟， 古来材大难为用。
又作霜 又作原
Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu
A SONG OF AN OLD CYPRESS

Beside the Temple of the Great Premier stands an ancient cypress
With a trunk of green bronze and a root of stone.
The girth of its white bark would be the reach of forty men
And its tip of kingfish-blue is two thousand feet in heaven.
Dating from the days of a great ruler's great statesman,
Their very tree is loved now and honoured by the people.
Clouds come to it from far away, from the Wu cliffs,
And the cold moon glistens on its peak of snow.
...East of the Silk Pavilion yesterday I found
The ancient ruler and wise statesman both worshipped in one temple,
Whose tree, with curious branches, ages the whole landscape
In spite of the fresh colours of the windows and the doors.
And so firm is the deep root, so established underground,
That its lone lofty boughs can dare the weight of winds,
Its only protection the Heavenly Power,
Its only endurance the art of its Creator.
Though oxen sway ten thousand heads, they cannot move a mountain.
...When beams are required to restore a great house,
Though a tree writes no memorial, yet people understand
That not unless they fell it can use be made of it....
Its bitter heart may be tenanted now by black and white ants,
But its odorous leaves were once the nest of phoenixes and pheasants.
...Let wise and hopeful men harbour no complaint.
The greater the timber, the tougher it is to use.

田寶

064
七言古诗
杜甫
观公孙大娘弟子舞剑器行并序

大历二年十月十九日夔府别驾元持宅见临颍李十二 娘舞剑器，壮其蔚跂。问其所师，曰︰余公孙大娘 弟子也。开元三载，余尚童稚，记于郾城观公孙氏 舞剑器浑脱。浏漓顿挫，独出冠时。自高头宜春梨 园二伎坊内人，洎外供奉，晓是舞者，圣文神武皇 帝初，公孙一人而已。玉貌锦衣，况余白首！今兹 弟子亦匪盛颜。既辨其由来，知波澜莫二。抚事慷 慨，聊为剑器行。昔者吴人张旭善草书书帖，数尝 于邺县见公孙大娘舞西河剑器，自此草书长进，豪 荡感激。即公孙可知矣！

昔有佳人公孙氏， 一舞剑器动四方。
观者如山色沮丧， 天地为之久低昂。
霍如羿射九日落， 矫如群帝骖龙翔，
来如雷霆收震怒， 罢如江海凝清光。
绛唇珠袖两寂寞， 晚有弟子传芬芳。
临颍美人在白帝， 妙舞此曲神扬扬。
与余问答既有以， 感时抚事增惋伤。
先帝侍女八千人， 公孙剑器初第一。
五十年间似反掌， 风尘澒洞昏王室。
梨园子弟散如烟， 女乐余姿映寒日。
金粟堆前木已拱， 瞿塘石城草萧瑟。
玳筵急管曲复终， 乐极哀来月东出。
老夫不知其所往？ 足茧荒山转愁疾。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu
A SONG OF DAGGER-DANCING TO A GIRL-PUPIL
OF LADY GONGSUN

On the 19th of the Tenth-month in the second year of Dali, I saw, in the house of the Kueifu official Yuante, a girl named Li from Lingying dancing with a dagger. I admired her skill and asked who was her teacher. She named Lady Gongsun. I remembered that in the third year of Kaiyuan at Yancheng, when I was a little boy, I saw Lady Gongsun dance. She was the only one in the Imperial Theatre who could dance with this weapon. Now she is aged and unknown, and even her pupil has passed the heyday of beauty. I wrote this poem to express my wistfulness. The work of Zhang Xu of the Wu district, that great master of grassy writing, was improved by his having been present when Lady Gongsun danced in the Yeh district. From this may be judged the art of Gongsun.

There lived years ago the beautiful Gongsun,
Who, dancing with her dagger, drew from all four quarters
An audience like mountains lost among themselves.
Heaven and earth moved back and forth, following her motions,
Which were bright as when the Archer shot the nine suns down the sky
And rapid as angels before the wings of dragons.
She began like a thunderbolt, venting its anger,
And ended like the shining calm of rivers and the sea....
But vanished are those red lips and those pearly sleeves;
And none but this one pupil bears the perfume of her fame,
This beauty from Lingying, at the Town of the White God,
Dancing still and singing in the old blithe way.
And while we reply to each other's questions,
We sigh together, saddened by changes that have come.
There were eight thousand ladies in the late Emperor's court,
But none could dance the dagger-dance like Lady Gongsun.
...Fifty years have passed, like the turning of a palm;
Wind and dust, filling the world, obscure the Imperial House.
Instead of the Pear-Garden Players, who have blown by like a mist,
There are one or two girl-musicians now-trying to charm the cold Sun.
There are man-size trees by the Emperor's Golden Tomb
I seem to hear dead grasses rattling on the cliffs of Qutang.
...The song is done, the slow string and quick pipe have ceased.
At the height of joy, sorrow comes with the eastern moon rising.
And I, a poor old man, not knowing where to go,
Must harden my feet on the lone hills, toward sickness and despair.

田寶

065
七言古诗
元结
石鱼湖上醉歌并序

漫叟以公田米酿酒，因休暇，则载酒于湖上， 时取一醉；欢醉中，据湖岸，引臂向鱼取酒， 使舫载之，遍饮坐者。意疑倚巴丘，酌于君山 之上，诸子环洞庭而坐，酒舫泛泛然，触波涛 而往来者，乃作歌以长之。

石鱼湖， 似洞庭，
夏水欲满君山青。
山为樽， 水为沼，
酒徒历历坐洲鸟。
长风连日作大浪， 不能废人运酒舫。
我持长瓢坐巴丘， 酌饮四座以散愁。
又作岛
Seven-character-ancient-verse
Yuan Jie
A DRINKING SONG AT STONE-FISH LAKE

I have used grain from the public fields, for distilling wine. After my office hours I have the wine loaded on a boat and then I seat my friends on the bank of the lake. The little wine-boats come to each of us and supply us with wine. We seem to be drinking on Pa Islet in Lake Dongting. And I write this poem.

Stone-Fish Lake is like Lake Dongting --
When the top of Zun is green and the summer tide is rising.
...With the mountain for a table, and the lake a fount of wine,
The tipplers all are settled along the sandy shore.
Though a stiff wind for days has roughened the water,
Wine-boats constantly arrive....
I have a long-necked gourd and, happy on Ba Island,
I am pouring a drink in every direction doing away with care.

田寶

066
七言古诗
韩愈
山石

山石荦确行径微， 黄昏到寺蝙蝠飞。
升堂坐阶新雨足， 芭蕉叶大栀子肥。
僧言古壁佛画好， 以火来照所见稀。
铺床拂席置羹饭， 疏粝亦足饱我饥。
夜深静卧百虫绝， 清月出岭光入扉。
天明独去无道路， 出入高下穷烟霏。
山红涧碧纷烂漫， 时见松枥皆十围。
当流赤足蹋涧石， 水声激激风吹衣。
人生如此自可乐， 岂必局束为人鞿？
嗟哉吾党二三子， 安得至老不更归？

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Han Yu
MOUNTAIN-STONES

Rough were the mountain-stones, and the path very narrow;
And when I reached the temple, bats were in the dusk.
I climbed to the hall, sat on the steps, and drank the rain- washed air
Among the round gardenia-pods and huge bananaleaves.
On the old wall, said the priest, were Buddhas finely painted,
And he brought a light and showed me, and I called them wonderful
He spread the bed, dusted the mats, and made my supper ready,
And, though the food was coarse, it satisfied my hunger.
At midnight, while I lay there not hearing even an insect,
The mountain moon with her pure light entered my door....
At dawn I left the mountain and, alone, lost my way:
In and out, up and down, while a heavy mist
Made brook and mountain green and purple, brightening everything.
I am passing sometimes pines and oaks, which ten men could not girdle,
I am treading pebbles barefoot in swift-running water --
Its ripples purify my ear, while a soft wind blows my garments....
These are the things which, in themselves, make life happy.
Why should we be hemmed about and hampered with people?
O chosen pupils, far behind me in my own country,
What if I spent my old age here and never went back home?

田寶

067
七言古诗
韩愈
八月十五夜赠张功曹

纤云四卷天无河， 清风吹空月舒波。
沙平水息声影绝， 一杯相属君当歌。
君歌声酸辞且苦， 不能听终泪如雨。
洞庭连天九疑高， 蛟龙出没猩鼯号。
十生九死到官所， 幽居默默如藏逃。
下床畏蛇食畏药， 海气湿蛰熏腥臊。
昨者州前槌大鼓， 嗣皇继圣登夔皋。
赦书一日行万里， 罪从大辟皆除死。
迁者追回流者还， 涤瑕荡垢清朝班。
州家申名使家抑， 坎轲祇得移荆蛮。
判司卑官不堪说， 未免捶楚尘埃间。
同时辈流多上道， 天路幽险难追攀。
君歌且休听我歌， 我歌今与君殊科。
一年明月今宵多， 人生由命非由他；
有酒不饮奈明何？

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Han Yu
ON THE FESTIVAL OF THE MOON
TO SUB-OFFICIAL ZHANG

The fine clouds have opened and the River of Stars is gone,
A clear wind blows across the sky, and the moon widens its wave,
The sand is smooth, the water still, no sound and no shadow,
As I offer you a cup of wine, asking you to sing.
But so sad is this song of yours and so bitter your voice
That before I finish listening my tears have become a rain:
"Where Lake Dongting is joined to the sky by the lofty Nine-Doubt Mountain,
Dragons, crocodiles, rise and sink, apes, flying foxes, whimper....
At a ten to one risk of death, I have reached my official post,
Where lonely I live and hushed, as though I were in hiding.
I leave my bed, afraid of snakes; I eat, fearing poisons;
The air of the lake is putrid, breathing its evil odours....
Yesterday, by the district office, the great drum was announcing
The crowning of an emperor, a change in the realm.
The edict granting pardons runs three hundred miles a day,
All those who were to die have had their sentences commuted,
The unseated are promoted and exiles are recalled,
Corruptions are abolished, clean officers appointed.
My superior sent my name in but the governor would not listen
And has only transferred me to this barbaric place.
My rank is very low and useless to refer to;
They might punish me with lashes in the dust of the street.
Most of my fellow exiles are now returning home --
A journey which, to me, is a heaven beyond climbing."
...Stop your song, I beg you, and listen to mine,
A song that is utterly different from yours:
"Tonight is the loveliest moon of the year.
All else is with fate, not ours to control;
But, refusing this wine, may we choose more tomorrow?"

田寶

068
七言古诗
韩愈
谒衡岳庙遂宿岳寺题门楼

五岳祭秩皆三公， 四方环镇嵩当中。
火维地荒足妖怪， 天假神柄专其雄。
喷云泄雾藏半腹， 虽有绝顶谁能穷？
我来正逢秋雨节， 阴气晦昧无清风。
潜心默祷若有应， 岂非正直能感通？
须臾静扫众峰出， 仰见突兀撑青空。
紫盖连延接天柱， 石廪腾掷堆祝融。
森然魄动下马拜， 松柏一迳趋灵宫。
纷墙丹柱动光彩， 鬼物图画填青红。
升阶伛偻荐脯酒， 欲以菲薄明其衷。
庙内老人识神意， 睢盱侦伺能鞠躬。
手持杯珓导我掷， 云此最吉余难同。
窜逐蛮荒幸不死， 衣食才足甘长终。
侯王将相望久绝， 神纵欲福难为功。
夜投佛寺上高阁， 星月掩映云曈昽。
猿鸣钟动不知曙， 杲杲寒日生于东。

Seven-character-quatrain
Han Yu
STOPPING AT A TEMPLE ON HENG MOUNTAIN I
INSCRIBE THIS POEM IN THE GATE-TOWER

The five Holy Mountains have the rank of the Three Dukes.
The other four make a ring, with the Song Mountain midmost.
To this one, in the fire-ruled south, where evil signs are rife,
Heaven gave divine power, ordaining it a peer.
All the clouds and hazes are hidden in its girdle;
And its forehead is beholden only by a few.
...I came here in autumn, during the rainy season,
When the sky was overcast and the clear wind gone.
I quieted my mind and prayed, hoping for an answer;
For assuredly righteous thinking reaches to high heaven.
And soon all the mountain-peaks were showing me their faces;
I looked up at a pinnacle that held the clean blue sky:
The wide Purple-Canopy joined the Celestial Column;
The Stone Granary leapt, while the Fire God stood still.
Moved by this token, I dismounted to offer thanks.
A long path of pine and cypress led to the temple.
Its white walls and purple pillars shone, and the vivid colour
Of gods and devils filled the place with patterns of red and blue.
I climbed the steps and, bending down to sacrifice, besought
That my pure heart might be welcome, in spite of my humble offering.
The old priest professed to know the judgment of the God:
He was polite and reverent, making many bows.
He handed me divinity-cups, he showed me how to use them
And told me that my fortune was the very best of all.
Though exiled to a barbarous land, mine is a happy life.
Plain food and plain clothes are all I ever wanted.
To be prince, duke, premier, general, was never my desire;
And if the God would bless me, what better could he grant than this ? --
At night I lie down to sleep in the top of a high tower;
While moon and stars glimmer through the darkness of the clouds....
Apes call, a bell sounds. And ready for dawn
I see arise, far in the east the cold bright sun.

田寶

069
七言古诗
韩愈
石鼓歌

张生手持石鼓文， 劝我识作石鼓歌。
少陵无人谪仙死， 才薄将奈石鼓何？
周纲淩迟四海沸， 宣王愤起挥天戈；
大开明堂受朝贺， 诸侯剑佩鸣相磨。
搜于岐阳骋雄俊， 万里禽兽皆遮罗。
镌功勒成告万世， 凿石作鼓隳嵯峨。
从臣才艺咸第一， 拣选撰刻留山阿。
雨淋日炙野火燎， 鬼物守护烦撝呵。
公从何处得纸本？ 毫发尽备无差讹。
辞严义密读难晓， 字体不类隶与蝌。
年深岂免有缺画？ 快剑砍断生蛟鼍。
鸾翔凤翥众仙下， 珊瑚碧树交枝柯。
金绳铁索锁钮壮， 古鼎跃水龙腾梭。
陋儒编诗不收入， 二雅褊迫无委蛇。
孔子西行不到秦， 掎摭星宿遗羲娥。
嗟予好古生苦晚， 对此涕泪双滂沱。
忆昔初蒙博士徵， 其年始改称元和。
故人从军在右辅， 为我度量掘臼科。
濯冠沐浴告祭酒， 如此至宝存岂多？
毡包席裹可立致， 十鼓祇载数骆驼。
荐诸太庙比郜鼎， 光价岂止百倍过。
圣恩若许留太学， 诸生讲解得切磋。
观经鸿都尚填咽， 坐见举国来奔波。
剜苔剔藓露节角， 安置妥帖平不颇。
大厦深檐与盖覆， 经历久远期无佗。
中朝大官老于事， 讵肯感激徒媕婀？
牧童敲火牛砺角， 谁复著手为摩挲？
日销月铄就埋没， 六年西顾空吟哦。
羲之俗书趁姿媚， 数纸尚可博白鹅。
继周八代争战罢， 无人收拾理则那。
方今太平日无事， 柄任儒术崇丘轲。
安能以此上论列？ 愿借辩口如悬河。
石鼓之歌止于此， 呜呼吾意其蹉跎。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Han Yu
A POEM ON THE STONE DRUMS

Chang handed me this tracing, from the stone drums,
Beseeching me to write a poem on the stone drums.
Du Fu has gone. Li Bai is dead.
What can my poor talent do for the stone drums?
...When the Zhou power waned and China was bubbling,
Emperor Xuan, up in wrath, waved his holy spear:
And opened his Great Audience, receiving all the tributes
Of kings and lords who came to him with a tune of clanging weapons.
They held a hunt in Qiyang and proved their marksmanship:
Fallen birds and animals were strewn three thousand miles.
And the exploit was recorded, to inform new generations....
Cut out of jutting cliffs, these drums made of stone-
On which poets and artisans, all of the first order,
Had indited and chiselled-were set in the deep mountains
To be washed by rain, baked by sun, burned by wildfire,
Eyed by evil spirits; and protected by the gods.
...Where can he have found the tracing on this paper? --
True to the original, not altered by a hair,
The meaning deep, the phrases cryptic, difficult to read.
And the style of the characters neither square nor tadpole.
Time has not yet vanquished the beauty of these letters --
Looking like sharp daggers that pierce live crocodiles,
Like phoenix-mates dancing, like angels hovering down,
Like trees of jade and coral with interlocking branches,
Like golden cord and iron chain tied together tight,
Like incense-tripods flung in the sea, like dragons mounting heaven.
Historians, gathering ancient poems, forgot to gather these,
To make the two Books of Musical Song more colourful and striking;
Confucius journeyed in the west, but not to the Qin Kingdom,
He chose our planet and our stars but missed the sun and moon
I who am fond of antiquity, was born too late
And, thinking of these wonderful things, cannot hold back my tears....
I remember, when I was awarded my highest degree,
During the first year of Yuanho,
How a friend of mine, then at the western camp,
Offered to assist me in removing these old relics.
I bathed and changed, then made my plea to the college president
And urged on him the rareness of these most precious things.
They could be wrapped in rugs, be packed and sent in boxes
And carried on only a few camels: ten stone drums
To grace the Imperial Temple like the Incense-Pot of Gao --
Or their lustre and their value would increase a hundredfold,
If the monarch would present them to the university,
Where students could study them and doubtless decipher them,
And multitudes, attracted to the capital of culture
Prom all corners of the Empire, would be quick to gather.
We could scour the moss, pick out the dirt, restore the original surface,
And lodge them in a fitting and secure place for ever,
Covered by a massive building with wide eaves
Where nothing more might happen to them as it had before.
...But government officials grow fixed in their ways
And never will initiate beyond old precedent;
So herd- boys strike the drums for fire, cows polish horns on them,
With no one to handle them reverentially.
Still ageing and decaying, soon they may be effaced.
Six years I have sighed for them, chanting toward the west....
The familiar script of Wang Xizhi, beautiful though it was,
Could be had, several pages, just for a few white geese,
But now, eight dynasties after the Zhou, and all the wars over,
Why should there be nobody caring for these drums?
The Empire is at peace, the government free.
Poets again are honoured and Confucians and Mencians....
Oh, how may this petition be carried to the throne?
It needs indeed an eloquent flow, like a cataract-
But, alas, my voice has broken, in my song of the stone drums,
To a sound of supplication choked with its own tears.

田寶

070
七言古诗
柳宗元
渔翁

渔翁夜傍西岩宿， 晓汲清湘燃楚烛。
烟销日出不见人， 欸乃一声山水绿。
回看天际下中流， 岩上无心云相逐。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Liu Zongyuan
AN OLD FISHERMAN

An old fisherman spent the night here, under the western cliff;
He dipped up water from the pure Hsiang and made a bamboo fire;
And then, at sunrise, he went his way through the cloven mist,
With only the creak of his paddle left, in the greenness of mountain and river.
...I turn and see the waves moving as from heaven,
And clouds above the cliffs coming idly, one by one.

田寶

071
七言古诗
白居易
长恨歌

汉皇重色思倾国， 御宇多年求不得。
杨家有女初长成， 养在深闺人未识。
天生丽质难自弃， 一朝选在君王侧；
回眸一笑百媚生， 六宫粉黛无颜色。
春寒赐浴华清池， 温泉水滑洗凝脂；
侍儿扶起娇无力， 始是新承恩泽时。
云鬓花颜金步摇， 芙蓉帐暖度春宵；
春宵苦短日高起， 从此君王不早朝。
承欢侍宴无闲暇， 春从春游夜专夜。
后宫佳丽三千人， 三千宠爱在一身。
金星妆成娇侍夜， 玉楼宴罢醉和春。
姊妹弟兄皆列士， 可怜光彩生门户；
遂令天下父母心， 不重生男重生女。
骊宫高处入青云， 仙乐风飘处处闻；
缓歌慢舞凝丝竹， 尽日君王看不足。
渔阳鼙鼓动地来， 惊破霓裳羽衣曲。
九重城阙烟尘生， 千乘万骑西南行。
翠华摇摇行复止， 西出都门百余里。
六军不发无奈何？ 宛转蛾眉马前死。
花钿委地无人收， 翠翘金雀玉搔头。
君王掩面救不得， 回看血泪相和流。
黄埃散漫风萧索， 云栈萦纡登剑阁。
峨嵋山下少人行， 旌旗无光日色薄。
蜀江水碧蜀山青， 圣主朝朝暮暮情。
行宫见月伤心色， 夜雨闻铃肠断声。
天旋地转回龙驭， 到此踌躇不能去。
马嵬坡下泥土中， 不见玉颜空死处。
君臣相顾尽沾衣， 东望都门信马归。
归来池苑皆依旧， 太液芙蓉未央柳；
芙蓉如面柳如眉， 对此如何不泪垂？
春风桃李花开日， 秋雨梧桐叶落时。
西宫南内多秋草， 落叶满阶红不扫。
梨园子弟白发新， 椒房阿监青娥老。
夕殿萤飞思悄然， 孤灯挑尽未成眠。
迟迟钟鼓初长夜， 耿耿星河欲曙天。
鸳鸯瓦冷霜华重， 翡翠衾寒谁与共？
悠悠生死别经年， 魂魄不曾来入梦。
临邛道士鸿都客， 能以精诚致魂魄；
为感君王辗转思， 遂教方士殷勤觅。
排空驭气奔如电， 升天入地求之遍；
上穷碧落下黄泉， 两处茫茫皆不见。
忽闻海上有仙山， 山在虚无缥缈间；
楼阁玲珑五云起， 其中绰约多仙子。
中有一人字太真， 雪肤花貌参差是。
金阙西厢叩玉扃， 转教小玉报双成。
闻道汉家天子使， 九华帐里梦魂惊。
揽衣推枕起徘徊， 珠箔银屏迤逦开，
云鬓半偏新睡觉， 花冠不整下堂来。
风吹仙袂飘飘举， 犹似霓裳羽衣舞；
玉容寂寞泪阑干， 梨花一枝春带雨。
含情凝睇谢君王， 一别音容两渺茫。
昭阳殿里恩爱绝， 蓬莱宫中日月长。
回头下望人寰处， 不见长安见尘雾。
唯将旧物表深情， 钿合金钗寄将去。
钗留一股合一扇， 钗擘黄金合分钿；
但教心似金钿坚， 天上人间会相见。
临别殷勤重寄词， 词中有誓两心知。
七月七日长生殿， 夜半无人私语时。
在天愿作比翼鸟， 在地愿为连理枝。
天长地久有时尽， 此恨绵绵无绝期。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Bai Juyi
A SONG OF UNENDING SORROW

China's Emperor, craving beauty that might shake an empire,
Was on the throne for many years, searching, never finding,
Till a little child of the Yang clan, hardly even grown,
Bred in an inner chamber, with no one knowing her,
But with graces granted by heaven and not to be concealed,
At last one day was chosen for the imperial household.
If she but turned her head and smiled, there were cast a hundred spells,
And the powder and paint of the Six Palaces faded into nothing.
...It was early spring. They bathed her in the FlowerPure Pool,
Which warmed and smoothed the creamy-tinted crystal of her skin,
And, because of her languor, a maid was lifting her
When first the Emperor noticed her and chose her for his bride.
The cloud of her hair, petal of her cheek, gold ripples of her crown when she moved,
Were sheltered on spring evenings by warm hibiscus curtains;
But nights of spring were short and the sun arose too soon,
And the Emperor, from that time forth, forsook his early hearings
And lavished all his time on her with feasts and revelry,
His mistress of the spring, his despot of the night.
There were other ladies in his court, three thousand of rare beauty,
But his favours to three thousand were concentered in one body.
By the time she was dressed in her Golden Chamber, it would be almost evening;
And when tables were cleared in the Tower of Jade, she would loiter, slow with wine.
Her sisters and her brothers all were given titles;
And, because she so illumined and glorified her clan,
She brought to every father, every mother through the empire,
Happiness when a girl was born rather than a boy.
...High rose Li Palace, entering blue clouds,
And far and wide the breezes carried magical notes
Of soft song and slow dance, of string and bamboo music.
The Emperor's eyes could never gaze on her enough-
Till war-drums, booming from Yuyang, shocked the whole earth
And broke the tunes of The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
The Forbidden City, the nine-tiered palace, loomed in the dust
From thousands of horses and chariots headed southwest.
The imperial flag opened the way, now moving and now pausing- -
But thirty miles from the capital, beyond the western gate,
The men of the army stopped, not one of them would stir
Till under their horses' hoofs they might trample those moth- eyebrows....
Flowery hairpins fell to the ground, no one picked them up,
And a green and white jade hair-tassel and a yellowgold hair- bird.
The Emperor could not save her, he could only cover his face.
And later when he turned to look, the place of blood and tears
Was hidden in a yellow dust blown by a cold wind.
... At the cleft of the Dagger-Tower Trail they crisscrossed through a cloud-line
Under Omei Mountain. The last few came.
Flags and banners lost their colour in the fading sunlight....
But as waters of Shu are always green and its mountains always blue,
So changeless was His Majesty's love and deeper than the days.
He stared at the desolate moon from his temporary palace.
He heard bell-notes in the evening rain, cutting at his breast.
And when heaven and earth resumed their round and the dragon car faced home,
The Emperor clung to the spot and would not turn away
From the soil along the Mawei slope, under which was buried
That memory, that anguish. Where was her jade-white face?
Ruler and lords, when eyes would meet, wept upon their coats
As they rode, with loose rein, slowly eastward, back to the capital.
...The pools, the gardens, the palace, all were just as before,
The Lake Taiye hibiscus, the Weiyang Palace willows;
But a petal was like her face and a willow-leaf her eyebrow --
And what could he do but cry whenever he looked at them?
...Peach-trees and plum-trees blossomed, in the winds of spring;
Lakka-foliage fell to the ground, after autumn rains;
The Western and Southern Palaces were littered with late grasses,
And the steps were mounded with red leaves that no one swept away.
Her Pear-Garden Players became white-haired
And the eunuchs thin-eyebrowed in her Court of PepperTrees;
Over the throne flew fire-flies, while he brooded in the twilight.
He would lengthen the lamp-wick to its end and still could never sleep.
Bell and drum would slowly toll the dragging nighthours
And the River of Stars grow sharp in the sky, just before dawn,
And the porcelain mandarin-ducks on the roof grow thick with morning frost
And his covers of kingfisher-blue feel lonelier and colder
With the distance between life and death year after year;
And yet no beloved spirit ever visited his dreams.
...At Lingqiong lived a Taoist priest who was a guest of heaven,
Able to summon spirits by his concentrated mind.
And people were so moved by the Emperor's constant brooding
That they besought the Taoist priest to see if he could find her.
He opened his way in space and clove the ether like lightning,
Up to heaven, under the earth, looking everywhere.
Above, he searched the Green Void, below, the Yellow Spring;
But he failed, in either place, to find the one he looked for.
And then he heard accounts of an enchanted isle at sea,
A part of the intangible and incorporeal world,
With pavilions and fine towers in the five-coloured air,
And of exquisite immortals moving to and fro,
And of one among them-whom they called The Ever True-
With a face of snow and flowers resembling hers he sought.
So he went to the West Hall's gate of gold and knocked at the jasper door
And asked a girl, called Morsel-of-Jade, to tell The Doubly- Perfect.
And the lady, at news of an envoy from the Emperor of China,
Was startled out of dreams in her nine-flowered, canopy.
She pushed aside her pillow, dressed, shook away sleep,
And opened the pearly shade and then the silver screen.
Her cloudy hair-dress hung on one side because of her great haste,
And her flower-cap was loose when she came along the terrace,
While a light wind filled her cloak and fluttered with her motion
As though she danced The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
And the tear-drops drifting down her sad white face
Were like a rain in spring on the blossom of the pear.
But love glowed deep within her eyes when she bade him thank her liege,
Whose form and voice had been strange to her ever since their parting --
Since happiness had ended at the Court of the Bright Sun,
And moons and dawns had become long in Fairy-Mountain Palace.
But when she turned her face and looked down toward the earth
And tried to see the capital, there were only fog and dust.
So she took out, with emotion, the pledges he had given
And, through his envoy, sent him back a shell box and gold hairpin,
But kept one branch of the hairpin and one side of the box,
Breaking the gold of the hairpin, breaking the shell of the box;
"Our souls belong together," she said, " like this gold and this shell --
Somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely
And she sent him, by his messenger, a sentence reminding him
Of vows which had been known only to their two hearts:
"On the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life,
We told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world
That we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one,
And to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree."
Earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end,
While this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever.

田寶

072
七言古诗
白居易
琵琶行并序

元和十年，予左迁九江郡司马。明年秋，送客 湓浦口，闻船中夜弹琵琶者，听其音，铮铮然 有京都声；问其人，本长安倡女，尝学琵琶于 穆曹二善才。年长色衰，委身为贾人妇。遂命 酒，使快弹数曲，曲罢悯然。自叙少小时欢乐 事，今漂沦憔悴，转徙于江湖间。予出官二年 恬然自安，感斯人言，是夕，始觉有迁谪意， 因为长句歌以赠之，凡六百一十六言，命曰琵 琶行。

浔言江头夜送客， 枫叶荻花秋瑟瑟。
主人下马客在船， 举酒欲饮无管弦。
醉不成欢惨将别， 别时茫茫江浸月。
忽闻水上琵琶声， 主人忘归客不发。
寻声暗问弹者谁？ 琵琶声停欲语迟。
移船相近邀相见， 添酒回灯重开宴。
千呼万唤始出来， 犹抱琵琶半遮面。
转轴拨弦三两声， 未成曲调先有情。
弦弦掩抑声声思， 似诉平生不得志。
低眉信手续续弹， 说尽心中无限事。
轻拢慢撚抹复挑， 初为霓裳后六么。
大弦嘈嘈如急雨， 小弦切切如私语。
嘈嘈切切错杂弹， 大珠小珠落玉盘。
间官莺语花底滑， 幽咽泉流水下滩。
水泉冷涩弦凝绝， 凝绝不通声渐歇。
别有幽愁暗恨生， 此时无声胜有声。
银瓶乍破水浆迸， 铁骑突出刀鎗鸣。
曲终收拨当心画， 四弦一声如裂帛。
东船西舫悄无言， 唯见江心秋月白。
沈吟放拨插弦中， 整顿衣裳起敛容。
自言本是京城女， 家在虾蟆陵下住。
十三学得琵琶成， 名属教坊第一部。
曲罢曾教善才服， 妆成每被秋娘妒，
五陵年少争缠头， 一曲红绡不知数。
钿头银篦击节碎， 血色罗裙翻酒污。
今年欢笑复明年， 秋月春风等闲度。
弟走从军阿姨死， 暮去朝来颜色故。
门前冷落车马稀， 老大嫁作商人妇。
商人重利轻别离， 前月浮梁买茶去。
去来江口守空船， 绕船月明江水寒。
夜深忽梦少年事， 梦啼妆泪红阑干，
我闻琵琶已叹息， 又闻此语重唧唧。
同是天涯沦落人， 相逢何必曾相识。
我从去年辞帝京， 谪居卧病浔阳城。
浔阳地僻无音乐， 终岁不闻丝竹声。
住近湓江地低湿， 黄芦苦竹绕宅生。
其间旦暮闻何物， 杜鹃啼血猿哀鸣。
春江花朝秋月夜， 往往取酒还独倾。
岂无山歌与村笛？ 呕哑嘲哳难为听。
今夜闻君琵琶语， 如听仙乐耳暂明。
莫辞更坐弹一曲， 为君翻作琵琶行。
感我此言良久立， 却坐促弦弦转急。
凄凄不似向前声， 满座重闻皆掩泣。
座中泣下谁最多， 江州司马青衫湿。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Bai Chuyi
THE SONG OF A GUITAR

In the tenth year of Yuanhe I was banished and demoted to be assistant official in Jiujiang. In the summer of the next year I was seeing a friend leave Penpu and heard in the midnight from a neighbouring boat a guitar played in the manner of the capital. Upon inquiry, I found that the player had formerly been a dancing-girl there and in her maturity had been married to a merchant. I invited her to my boat to have her play for us. She told me her story, heyday and then unhappiness. Since my departure from the capital I had not felt sad; but that night, after I left her, I began to realize my banishment. And I wrote this long poem -- six hundred and twelve characters.

I was bidding a guest farewell, at night on the Xunyang River,
Where maple-leaves and full-grown rushes rustled in the autumn.
I, the host, had dismounted, my guest had boarded his boat,
And we raised our cups and wished to drink-but, alas, there was no music.
For all we had drunk we felt no joy and were parting from each other,
When the river widened mysteriously toward the full moon --
We had heard a sudden sound, a guitar across the water.
Host forgot to turn back home, and guest to go his way.
We followed where the melody led and asked the player's name.
The sound broke off...then reluctantly she answered.
We moved our boat near hers, invited her to join us,
Summoned more wine and lanterns to recommence our banquet.
Yet we called and urged a thousand times before she started toward us,
Still hiding half her face from us behind her guitar.
...She turned the tuning-pegs and tested several strings;
We could feel what she was feeling, even before she played:
Each string a meditation, each note a deep thought,
As if she were telling us the ache of her whole life.
She knit her brows, flexed her fingers, then began her music,
Little by little letting her heart share everything with ours.
She brushed the strings, twisted them slow, swept them, plucked them --
First the air of The Rainbow Skirt, then The Six Little Ones.
The large strings hummed like rain,
The small strings whispered like a secret,
Hummed, whispered-and then were intermingled
Like a pouring of large and small pearls into a plate of jade.
We heard an oriole, liquid, hidden among flowers.
We heard a brook bitterly sob along a bank of sand...
By the checking of its cold touch, the very string seemed broken
As though it could not pass; and the notes, dying away
Into a depth of sorrow and concealment of lament,
Told even more in silence than they had told in sound....
A silver vase abruptly broke with a gush of water,
And out leapt armored horses and weapons that clashed and smote --
And, before she laid her pick down, she ended with one stroke,
And all four strings made one sound, as of rending silk
There was quiet in the east boat and quiet in the west,
And we saw the white autumnal moon enter the river's heart.
...When she had slowly placed the pick back among the strings,
She rose and smoothed her clothing and, formal, courteous,
Told us how she had spent her girlhood at the capital,
Living in her parents' house under the Mount of Toads,
And had mastered the guitar at the age of thirteen,
With her name recorded first in the class-roll of musicians,
Her art the admiration even of experts,
Her beauty the envy of all the leading dancers,
How noble youths of Wuling had lavishly competed
And numberless red rolls of silk been given for one song,
And silver combs with shell inlay been snapped by her rhythms,
And skirts the colour of blood been spoiled with stains of wine....
Season after season, joy had followed joy,
Autumn moons and spring winds had passed without her heeding,
Till first her brother left for the war, and then her aunt died,
And evenings went and evenings came, and her beauty faded --
With ever fewer chariots and horses at her door;
So that finally she gave herself as wife to a merchant
Who, prizing money first, careless how he left her,
Had gone, a month before, to Fuliang to buy tea.
And she had been tending an empty boat at the river's mouth,
No company but the bright moon and the cold water.
And sometimes in the deep of night she would dream of her triumphs
And be wakened from her dreams by the scalding of her tears.
Her very first guitar-note had started me sighing;
Now, having heard her story, I was sadder still.
"We are both unhappy -- to the sky's end.
We meet. We understand. What does acquaintance matter?
I came, a year ago, away from the capital
And am now a sick exile here in Jiujiang --
And so remote is Jiujiang that I have heard no music,
Neither string nor bamboo, for a whole year.
My quarters, near the River Town, are low and damp,
With bitter reeds and yellowed rushes all about the house.
And what is to be heard here, morning and evening? --
The bleeding cry of cuckoos, the whimpering of apes.
On flowery spring mornings and moonlit autumn nights
I have often taken wine up and drunk it all alone,
Of course there are the mountain songs and the village pipes,
But they are crude and-strident, and grate on my ears.
And tonight, when I heard you playing your guitar,
I felt as if my hearing were bright with fairymusic.
Do not leave us. Come, sit down. Play for us again.
And I will write a long song concerning a guitar."
...Moved by what I said, she stood there for a moment,
Then sat again to her strings-and they sounded even sadder,
Although the tunes were different from those she had played before....
The feasters, all listening, covered their faces.
But who of them all was crying the most?
This Jiujiang official. My blue sleeve was wet.

田寶

073
七言古诗
李商隐
韩碑

元和天子神武姿， 彼何人哉轩与羲，
誓将上雪列圣耻， 坐法宫中朝四夷。
淮西有贼五十载， 封狼生貙貙生罴；
不据山河据平地， 长戈利矛日可麾。
帝得圣相相曰度， 贼斫不死神扶持。
腰悬相印作都统， 阴风惨澹天王旗。
愬武古通作牙爪， 仪曹外郎载笔随。
行军司马智且勇， 十四万众犹虎貔。
入蔡缚贼献太庙。 功无与让恩不訾。
帝曰汝度功第一， 汝从事愈宜为辞。
愈拜稽首蹈且舞， 金石刻画臣能为。
古者世称大手笔， 此事不系于职司。
当仁自古有不让， 言讫屡颔天子颐。
公退斋戒坐小阁， 濡染大笔何淋漓。
点窜尧典舜典字， 涂改清庙生民诗。
文成破体书在纸， 清晨再拜铺丹墀。
表曰臣愈昧死上， 咏神圣功书之碑。
碑高三丈字如斗， 负以灵鳌蟠以螭。
句奇语重喻者少， 谗之天子言其私。
长绳百尺拽碑倒。 粗沙大石相磨治。
公之斯文若元气， 先时已入人肝脾。
汤盘孔鼎有述作， 今无其器存其辞。
呜呼圣皇及圣相， 相与烜赫流淳熙。
公之斯文不示后， 曷与三五相攀追？
愿书万本诵万过， 口角流沫右手胝；
传之七十有二代， 以为封禅玉检明堂基。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Shangyin
THE HAN MONUMENT

The Son of Heaven in Yuanhe times was martial as a god
And might be likened only to the Emperors Xuan and Xi.
He took an oath to reassert the glory of the empire,
And tribute was brought to his palace from all four quarters.
Western Huai for fifty years had been a bandit country,
Wolves becoming lynxes, lynxes becoming bears.
They assailed the mountains and rivers, rising from the plains,
With their long spears and sharp lances aimed at the Sun.
But the Emperor had a wise premier, by the name of Du,
Who, guarded by spirits against assassination,
Hong at his girdle the seal of state, and accepted chief command,
While these savage winds were harrying the flags of the Ruler of Heaven.
Generals Suo, Wu, Gu, and Tong became his paws and claws;
Civil and military experts brought their writingbrushes,
And his recording adviser was wise and resolute.
A hundred and forty thousand soldiers, fighting like lions and tigers,
Captured the bandit chieftains for the Imperial Temple.
So complete a victory was a supreme event;
And the Emperor said: "To you, Du, should go the highest honour,
And your secretary, Yu, should write a record of it."
When Yu had bowed his head, he leapt and danced, saying:
"Historical writings on stone and metal are my especial art;
And, since I know the finest brush-work of the old masters,
My duty in this instance is more than merely official,
And I should be at fault if I modestly declined."
The Emperor, on hearing this, nodded many times.
And Yu retired and fasted and, in a narrow workroom,
His great brush thick with ink as with drops of rain,
Chose characters like those in the Canons of Yao and Xun,
And a style as in the ancient poems Qingmiao and Shengmin.
And soon the description was ready, on a sheet of paper.
In the morning he laid it, with a bow, on the purple stairs.
He memorialized the throne: "I, unworthy,
Have dared to record this exploit, for a monument."
The tablet was thirty feet high, the characters large as dippers;
It was set on a sacred tortoise, its columns flanked with ragons....
The phrases were strange with deep words that few could understand;
And jealousy entered and malice and reached the Emperor --
So that a rope a hundred feet long pulled the tablet down
And coarse sand and small stones ground away its face.
But literature endures, like the universal spirit,
And its breath becomes a part of the vitals of all men.
The Tang plate, the Confucian tripod, are eternal things,
Not because of their forms, but because of their inscriptions....
Sagacious is our sovereign and wise his minister,
And high their successes and prosperous their reign;
But unless it be recorded by a writing such as this,
How may they hope to rival the three and five good rulers?
I wish I could write ten thousand copies to read ten thousand times,
Till spittle ran from my lips and calluses hardened my fingers,
And still could hand them down, through seventy-two generations,
As corner-stones for Rooms of Great Deeds on the Sacred Mountains.

田寶

074
乐府
高适
燕歌行并序

开元二十六年，客有从御史大夫张公出塞而还者， 作燕歌行以示适，感征戍之事，因而和焉。

汉家烟尘在东北， 汉将辞家破残贼。
男儿本自重横行， 天子非常赐颜色。
摐金伐鼓下榆关， 旌旆逶迤碣石间。
校尉羽书飞瀚海， 单于猎火照狼山。
山川萧条极边土， 胡骑凭陵杂风雨。
战士军前半死生， 美人帐下犹歌舞。
大漠穷秋塞草衰， 孤城落日斗兵稀。
身当恩遇常轻敌， 力尽关山未解围。
铁衣远戍辛勤久， 玉筋应啼别离后。
少妇城南欲断肠， 征人蓟北空回首。
边庭飘飖那可度？ 绝域苍茫更何有？
杀气三时作阵云， 寒声一夜传刁斗。
相看白刃血纷纷， 死节从来岂顾勋。
君不见沙场征战苦？ 至今犹忆李将军。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Gao Shi
A SONG OF THE YAN COUNTRY

In the sixth year of Kaiyuan, a friend returned from the border and showed me the Yan Song. Moved by what he told me of the expedition, I have written this poem to the same rhymes.

The northeastern border of China was dark with smoke and dust.
To repel the savage invaders, our generals, leaving their families,
Strode forth together, looking as heroes should look;
And having received from the Emperor his most gracious favour,
They marched to the beat of gong and drum through the Elm Pass.
They circled the Stone Tablet with a line of waving flags,
Till their captains over the Sea of Sand were twanging feathered orders.
The Tartar chieftain's hunting-fires glimmered along Wolf Mountain,
And heights and rivers were cold and bleak there at the outer border;
But soon the barbarians' horses were plunging through wind and rain.
Half of our men at the front were killed, but the other half are living,
And still at the camp beautiful girls dance for them and sing.
...As autumn ends in the grey sand, with the grasses all withered,
The few surviving watchers by the lonely wall at sunset,
Serving in a good cause, hold life and the foeman lightly.
And yet, for all that they have done, Elm Pass is still unsafe.
Still at the front, iron armour is worn and battered thin,
And here at home food-sticks are made of jade tears.
Still in this southern city young wives' hearts are breaking,
While soldiers at the northern border vainly look toward home.
The fury of the wind cuts our men's advance
In a place of death and blue void, with nothingness ahead.
Three times a day a cloud of slaughter rises over the camp;
And all night long the hour-drums shake their chilly booming,
Until white swords can be seen again, spattered with red blood.
...When death becomes a duty, who stops to think of fame?
Yet in speaking of the rigours of warfare on the desert
We name to this day Li, the great General, who lived long ago.

田寶

中英《唐诗三百首》 04


075
七言乐府
李颀
古从军行

白日登山望烽火， 黄昏饮马傍交河。
行人刁斗风沙暗， 公主琵琶幽怨多。
野云万里无城郭， 雨雪纷纷连大漠。
胡雁哀鸣夜夜飞， 胡儿眼泪双双落。
闻道玉门犹被遮， 应将性命逐轻车。
年年战骨埋荒外， 空见葡萄入汉家。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Qi
AN OLD WAR-SONG

Through the bright day up the mountain, we scan the sky for a war-torch;
At yellow dusk we water our horses in the boundaryriver;
And when the throb of watch-drums hangs in the sandy wind,
We hear the guitar of the Chinese Princess telling her endless woe....
Three thousand miles without a town, nothing but camps,
Till the heavy sky joins the wide desert in snow.
With their plaintive calls, barbarian wildgeese fly from night to night,
And children of the Tartars have many tears to shed;
But we hear that the Jade Pass is still under siege,
And soon we stake our lives upon our light warchariots.
Each year we bury in the desert bones unnumbered,
Yet we only watch for grape-vines coming into China.

田寶

076
乐府
王维
洛阳女儿行

洛阳女儿对门居， 才可容颜十五余；
良人玉勒乘骢马， 侍女金盘脍鲤鱼。
画阁朱楼尽相望， 红桃绿柳垂檐向。
罗帷送上七香车， 宝扇迎归九华帐。
狂夫富贵在青春， 意气骄奢剧季伦。
自怜碧玉亲教舞， 不惜珊瑚持与人。
春窗曙灭九微火， 九微片片飞花璅。
戏罢曾无理曲时， 妆成祇是薰香坐。
城中相识尽繁华， 日夜经过赵李家。
谁怜越女颜如玉？ 贫贱江头自浣纱。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
A SONG OF A GIRL FROM LOYANG

There's a girl from Loyang in the door across the street,
She looks fifteen, she may be a little older.
...While her master rides his rapid horse with jade bit an bridle,
Her handmaid brings her cod-fish in a golden plate.
On her painted pavilions, facing red towers,
Cornices are pink and green with peach-bloom and with willow,
Canopies of silk awn her seven-scented chair,
And rare fans shade her, home to her nine-flowered curtains.
Her lord, with rank and wealth and in the bud of life,
Exceeds in munificence the richest men of old.
He favours this girl of lowly birth, he has her taught to dance;
And he gives away his coral-trees to almost anyone.
The wind of dawn just stirs when his nine soft lights go out,
Those nine soft lights like petals in a flying chain of flowers.
Between dances she has barely time for singing over the songs;
No sooner is she dressed again than incense burns before her.
Those she knows in town are only the rich and the lavish,
And day and night she is visiting the hosts of the gayest mansions.
...Who notices the girl from Yue with a face of white jade,
Humble, poor, alone, by the river, washing silk?

田寶

077
乐府
王维
老将行

少年十五二十时， 步行夺得胡马骑。
射杀山中白额虎， 肯数邺下黄须儿。
一身转战三千里， 一剑曾当百万师。
汉兵奋迅如霹雳， 虏骑崩腾畏蒺藜。
卫青不败由天幸， 李广无功缘数奇。
自从弃置便衰朽， 世事蹉跎成白首。
昔时飞箭无全目， 今日垂杨生左肘。
路旁时卖故侯瓜， 门前学种先生柳。
苍茫古木连穷巷， 寥落寒山对虚牖。
誓令疏勒出飞泉， 不似颍川空使酒。
贺兰山下阵如云， 羽檄交驰日夕闻。
节使三河募年少， 诏书五道出将军。
试拂铁衣如雪色， 聊持宝剑动星文。
愿得燕弓射大将， 耻令越甲鸣吾君。
莫嫌旧日云中守， 犹堪一战取功勋。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
SONG OF AN OLD GENERAL

When he was a youth of fifteen or twenty,
He chased a wild horse, he caught him and rode him,
He shot the white-browed mountain tiger,
He defied the yellow-bristled Horseman of Ye.
Fighting single- handed for a thousand miles,
With his naked dagger he could hold a multitude.
...Granted that the troops of China were as swift as heaven's thunder
And that Tartar soldiers perished in pitfalls fanged with iron,
General Wei Qing's victory was only a thing of chance.
And General Li Guang's thwarted effort was his fate, not his fault.
Since this man's retirement he is looking old and worn:
Experience of the world has hastened his white hairs.
Though once his quick dart never missed the right eye of a bird,
Now knotted veins and tendons make his left arm like an osier.
He is sometimes at the road-side selling melons from his garden,
He is sometimes planting willows round his hermitage.
His lonely lane is shut away by a dense grove,
His vacant window looks upon the far cold mountains
But, if he prayed, the waters would come gushing for his men
And never would he wanton his cause away with wine.
...War-clouds are spreading, under the Helan Range;
Back and forth, day and night, go feathered messages;
In the three River Provinces, the governors call young men --
And five imperial edicts have summoned the old general.
So he dusts his iron coat and shines it like snow-
Waves his dagger from its jade hilt in a dance of starry steel.
He is ready with his strong northern bow to smite the Tartar chieftain --
That never a foreign war-dress may affront the Emperor.
...There once was an aged Prefect, forgotten and far away,
Who still could manage triumph with a single stroke.

田寶

078
乐府
王维
桃源行

渔舟逐水爱山春， 两岸桃花夹古津。
坐看红树不知远， 行尽青溪不见人。
山口潜行始隈隩， 山开旷望旋平陆。
遥看一处攒云树， 近入千家散花竹。
樵客初传汉姓名， 居人未改秦衣服。
居人共住武陵源， 还从物外起田园。
月明松下房栊静， 日出云中鸡犬喧。
惊闻俗客争来集， 竞引还家问都邑。
平明闾巷扫花开， 薄暮渔樵乘水入。
初因避地去人间， 及至成仙遂不还。
峡里谁知有人事， 世中遥望空云山。
不疑灵境难闻见， 尘心未尽思乡县。
出洞无论隔山水， 辞家终拟长游衍。
自谓经过旧不迷， 安知峰壑今来变。
当时只记入山深， 青溪几曲到云林？
春来遍是桃花水， 不辨仙源何处寻？

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
A SONG OF PEACH-BLOSSOM RIVER

A fisherman is drifting, enjoying the spring mountains,
And the peach-trees on both banks lead him to an ancient source.
Watching the fresh-coloured trees, he never thinks of distance
Till he comes to the end of the blue stream and suddenly- strange men!
It's a cave-with a mouth so narrow that he has to crawl through;
But then it opens wide again on a broad and level path --
And far beyond he faces clouds crowning a reach of trees,
And thousands of houses shadowed round with flowers and bamboos....
Woodsmen tell him their names in the ancient speech of Han;
And clothes of the Qin Dynasty are worn by all these people
Living on the uplands, above the Wuling River,
On farms and in gardens that are like a world apart,
Their dwellings at peace under pines in the clear moon,
Until sunrise fills the low sky with crowing and barking.
...At news of a stranger the people all assemble,
And each of them invites him home and asks him where he was born.
Alleys and paths are cleared for him of petals in the morning,
And fishermen and farmers bring him their loads at dusk....
They had left the world long ago, they had come here seeking refuge;
They have lived like angels ever since, blessedly far away,
No one in the cave knowing anything outside,
Outsiders viewing only empty mountains and thick clouds.
...The fisherman, unaware of his great good fortune,
Begins to think of country, of home, of worldly ties,
Finds his way out of the cave again, past mountains and past rivers,
Intending some time to return, when he has told his kin.
He studies every step he takes, fixes it well in mind,
And forgets that cliffs and peaks may vary their appearance.
...It is certain that to enter through the deepness of the mountain,
A green river leads you, into a misty wood.
But now, with spring-floods everywhere and floating peachpetals --
Which is the way to go, to find that hidden source?